Big cricketing names continue to desert red-ball cricket in favour of the shorter formats of the game.

England's Adil Rashid and Alex Hales last month announced their decision of walking away from the longest format of the game and on Friday New Zealand's Colin Munro joined them.

Munro, who is the only batsman to score three T20I tons, explained as to what led to his decision. "It would be fair to say that my focus hasn't been on four-day cricket this season and my passion for that format of the game isn't what it once was," Munro, whose only Test appearance came five years ago against South Africa, said.

"I'm still 100% committed to playing for the Blackcaps and Auckland Aces in the shorter formats and have some big goals I'd like to achieve in the next couple of years.

"Obviously with the World Cup next year I'd love to give myself the best chance of making that squad and that's where my main focus is."

The 30-year-old left-hander, who will play for Delhi Daredevils this IPL season, continued elaborating on his reasons. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to play more Test cricket in that time but you look at the guys who have come and made a real go of it. I've given a fair crack to first-class cricket and now it's a change of focus, I want to be part of that World Cup squad.

"Being classed as more a batting allrounder I don't think the body is was it was a couple of years ago. I've carried a few niggles through this home summer. It wasn't like I could run and bowl 15-20 overs, even though I'm medium-slow," he said.